Keep A&E in Lewisham that saved my girl

THOUSANDS of protesters turned out in stormy weather yesterday in a bid to save an accident and emergency unit in London.

Rebecca Adu-Bonsra with daughter Amelia who owes her life to her local A&E unit in Lewisham []

Lewisham Hospital’s A&E unit has been earmarked for closure after the hospital trust became entangled in an investigation into £150million debts run up by South London healthcare NHS trust.

Lewisham healthcare NHS Trust which is a neighbouring body in fact is solvent and is a "successful organisation with a good track record" according to a recent report.

One mother campaigning to keep it open is Rebecca Adu-Bonsra who says having it close to her home saved her 18-month-old daughter Amelia’s life.

When she was 15 days old Amelia started getting very sleepy and was barely feeding.

“I got more and more worried and at 5pm on the Friday, I snapped and took her to Lewisham A&E,” said Rebecca, 36.

She ventured out in the rain with her two-year-old son Ryan and the baby. “To be honest, had the nearest hospital been in Woolwich, which it would be if Lewisham were to close, I would have waited until the next day,” she said.

It is the perfect local hospital which has made an amazing difference to our family

Rebecca Adu-Bonsra

Amelia was found to have a heart condition needing surgery – and Rebecca was told she would not have made it through the night.

“She would have died and it would have been put down as cot death, then they would have found the heart problem,” she said.

“Lots of doctors would easily have missed it but they have a dedicated children’s A&E at Lewisham. It is the perfect local hospital which has made an amazing difference to our family.”

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